Summon the Plumber
by Arhtea
Summary: As hard as she struggled, she was well and truly stuck. She could just about taste the outside world and yet not reach it. Or in other words, did Hogwarts just have a giant manhole somewhere in the middle of a hallway or what?


**Written for The Golden Snitch (Hufflepuff, Hogwarts) for the Through the Universe challenge prompt 128. Perigee — (feeling) just out of reach**  
 **For Cescalia, who asked the important questions about Harry Potter!**

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 **Summon the Plumber**

In the dark the creature awakened. She slipped out of its nest and stretched. Red eyes glinted in the darkness as she took in the room. She was being summoned. She could hear her master call. _Come out! Kill!_ She didn't know how long she'd been asleep but in the darkness it had seemed an eternity had passed. She longed to taste fresh meat and blood. Longed to do her master's bidding.

Gracefully, she slid towards the pipe leading out of the chamber. And promptly bumped into the grate. With an angry hiss she tried to focus on the obstacle. She didn't remember the grate being there the last time. Still, no big problem. Putting all her strength behind it, she slammed into the grate. It didn't budge. The creature hissed, annoyed. Her master was calling, she had to do his bidding and the grate was in her way. She slammed into it again and then one more time.

Finally she heard the metal crunch and begin to give in. Slowly it broke and the creature hissed, satisfied with herself. She slithered into the pipe and began moving towards her target. She would please her master! She would rip the ones who opposed him apart and showed their dirty blood to the world. She wasn't sure why their blood was dirty or what that even mattered but she wanted to make her master happy.

A short distance later the pipe thinned. The creature frowned, in as much as it was possible for her, as she noticed that crawling through it was becoming increasingly difficult. Still, she pushed forward. She could smell humans. They were closer now. Her tongue flickered as she moved, ensuring she was on the right path.

Yes, yes she was. She pushed through the pipe. It was even thinner now but she couldn't give up. Soon she would be able to break out! Break free!

She was stuck. She tried to move forward but the pipe was too small. It creaked under her weight but wouldn't budge. Well, no reason to worry. She was close enough. She could see the light coming down the pipe. She was almost out. She just had to go back a bit and turn the other way at the last junction.

Except no, she was too far up this pipe. Couldn't really get loose. Going up was not an option and neither was going down it seemed. The creature trashed. She wanted out. She didn't remember the pipes being this small. Had someone really replaced the plumbing since the castle was created? How long had she been asleep? The pipe creaked under her trashing but held. She squeezed harder but it was too tight. She could almost taste the human now but she was just out of her reach.

Her master called louder. He couldn't understand why she was disappointing him. She groaned. Her purpose was to serve the heir of Slytherin. She wanted to serve him. Wanted to get out and do his bidding. She pressed forward, she trashed. If she could comprehend human emotions fully, she'd have called this one desperation. Was that what they felt when she hunted them? Almost getting away but the chance to live just out of their reach. Death catching up?

She didn't want to fail like those pathetic two-legged creatures. She had a duty to fulfill! When she moved she could just fit her head up a little. Her tongue flickered in and out as she hoisted herself as far up as she could even though the metal of the pipes was pressing down on her painfully. One fang was out of the water now. She hooked it around something hard. She tried even harder.

And now she was truly stuck, one fang out and head squished against something. No way in no way out.

Myrtle Warren shrieked as she saw the huge fang come out of the toilet. She screamed and in one swift moment as she stumbled out of the stall, all her troubles of being teased were pushed to the back of her mind. She shrieked as she ran out to the second-floor corridor. She didn't even notice professor Dumbledore before bumping into him.

When she led the man back to the source of his terror, the transfiguration professor took one look at the head of an enormous stuck basilisk and remarked: "I think we are going to need to summon a plumber!"

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 **But seriously, even if the pipes were big enough, how did a whole basilisk fit into the corridors to petrify people left and right? XD Were there like giant manholes all over Hogwarts?**


End file.
